Amazon and Fox Make Streaming Deal (Take That, Netflix!)

Amazon’s Prime instant video service will soon stream classic Fox TV shows including Arrested Development, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and — for the first time on digital video — The Wonder Years.

Fox shows and movies will be available for unlimited streaming later this fall through Amazon Prime, which costs $79 per year and also includes unlimited two-day shipping on retail items. Fox movies coming to the service include Office Space, Last of the Mohicans and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The deal brings Amazon’s Prime instant video count to 11,000 movies and TV shows, with content from CBS, NBCUniversal, Sony, Warner Bros and now Fox. “Since launching earlier this year, we have now doubled the number of titles available in Prime instant videos, and there’s still more to come,” Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wrote on the company’s home page.

With the Fox deal, Amazon is stepping up its streaming video game against Netflix, which according to All Things D has about 20,000 titles in its catalog. Netflix, meanwhile, is reeling from the loss of Starz content and from changes to its pricing and business model that have angered customers. Amazon’s service, which on a yearly basis is $16.88 cheaper than Netflix, now has its best chance yet at stealing Netflix subscribers.

But Amazon’s biggest problem remains: Its streaming content is not available on video game consoles, Apple’s iOS devices or Windows Phones. Unless that changes, Amazon Prime instant videos will be a weaker option than Netflix, no matter how many videos it adds or how upset Netflix makes its own customers.